The Belize Zoo is growing its family with an anteater - the only one that they have. The baby was found alone and the management later discovered that first time anteater mothers tended to abandon their babies.
But no worries for this little one, as he is being raised by the zoo and will be their first anteater ambassador. Courtney Menzies travelled there this morning and has the story.
The Tamandua Anteater is an endangered species, so when a newborn baby anteater was found abandoned in Duck Run back in September, it was up to a group of rescuers to take him to the Belize Zoo. Since then, he has been thriving but cannot be released into the wild because he would not be able to defend himself.
As such, the management of the zoo has decided to raise him and make him the anteater ambassador.
Shania Longsworth, Birdkeeper, The Belize Zoo
"When we found him he was only 270 grams, which is very small, he was about the size of my fist, and he still had his umbilical cord attached to him, so very young, we suspect maybe four days old, very very young. And he imprinted on us, we have been hand rearing him so because of that he can no longer be released back into the wild."
"Right now this is our only Anteater here in the zoo so he's going to be our Anteater ambassador, he's going to be our mascot, and he's going to teach people the important role he plays in the ecosystem."
Anteaters are at risk because of the destruction of their natural habitat. They are often seen running across roads, and because of this, they are constantly killed by cars, or stoned to death. It is the zoo's hope that people can be more educated about the harmless animal, and they will be building a new exhibit just for him.
But, the zoo is also struggling to find the resources to care for him.
Shania Longsworth, Birdkeeper, The Belize Zoo
"His diet right now is mostly kitten milk replacer and right now one of the issues we're having is that it's very hard to find and it's very expensive so we have been asking for donations in that form, or whatever form the people can provide for us. Right now he's being slowly introduced to termites and ants."
"Any donations that the zoo can get is always welcomed, it could be in the form of financially, it could be in the form of money, it can be in the form of material, things like fencing, anything that can help."
And it is not just this baby Tamandua that's being affected, but the entire zoo. The management is finding difficulty feeding the other animals, and are asking for donations in the form of finance or food.
One suggestion was for citizens to start raising small birds in order to eventually donate them.
Shania Longsworth, Birdkeeper, The Belize Zoo
"We are currently doing the best we can to keep the animal fed so that was one of the better ideas that came out, raising chicken, ducks, quails, anything that can help with feeding the carnivores of the zoo. We've also been very grateful to get donations in the form of cat food, like I said, milk replacer, fruits and vegetables. Anything like that is welcomed."
And, as for the nameless anteater, they will also be asking the public to choose his name.
Shania Longsworth, Birdkeeper, The Belize Zoo
"Fun thing about the name, the plan is to kinda take it to the public and have the public decide on the name that he's going to get. We had a couple names back here, some like Archie, Honey, I like Honey, people have said DR because he's from Duck Run, and a couple other names but they're gonna leave that up to the public for them to decide."
The public will be able to choose a name via a poll on the zoo's Facebook.
The baby anteater is about three months old, and weighs over 2 pounds.
